More smart phones and tablets are expected to hit the market this year, creating a greater demand for more mobile applications and San Antonio-based companies are taking advantage of this growing market. Magaly Chocano, the founder and CEO of SwebApps, said the growing demand led her to launch the application development firm in 2009. The majority of the company's clients come from outside San Antonio, but Chocano anticipates that local businesses will start picking up in the coming years. Locally, the firm already has created apps for businesses, organizations and events like the Witte Museum, Barbaresco Restaurant and Bar and Luminaria.

So far, the company has created more than 300 applications, and she the company's sales jumped 450 percent from 2009 to 2010. In the first two months of this year, the firm has almost equaled last year's sales she said.

“People have flocked to this new medium, which is growing so rapidly,” she said.

A recent study by Gartner Inc. estimates that app store downloads will reach 17.7 billion in 2011, a 117 percent jump from the more than 8 billion last year. Plus, the study forecasts that 185 billion apps will have been downloaded between 2008 and 2014.

About 81 percent of all app store downloads are free, but the revenue continues to soar. Last year, app store revenue hit about $5.2 billion. This year, that figure could triple, with revenue expected to hit $15.2 billion.

With a wide range of operating systems, smart phones, tablets and other computer devices the number of app stores is growing. Apple's app store offers about 350,000 mobile applications but competitor stores are growing like Google's Android market, Nokia's Ovi store, Research In Motion's app world (for the Blackberry), Samsung apps and Microsoft's marketplace.

It was that type of growth that lured Rudy W. De La Garza into the business. He is the co-founder and chief financial officer for Idea Apps Inc., a local company that helps programming novices to create mobile applications for iPhone and Android devices. The company launched last year and already has helped multiple companies develop applications, including AutoMed, which reminds people when to take medications.

An app can start about $400 but, Chocano said, a custom app can cost about $4,000. De La Garza said individuals can make money from app development, but he stressed the importance for companies to develop applications for marketing purposes.

“People are using smart phones more now than computers because people are mobile,” he said. “People are on the go and want information in an instant. We want to know what everyone is doing at all times. Apps keep you connected with the consumer and can help get the word out that your company exists. That's valuable tool.”

But Enrique Garza, CEO of BiBiSi, a local mobile marketing company, said that mobile applications are popular but that his firm develops mobile websites, instead. Mobile websites are similar to a regular website but are configured to fit mobile device screens and easier to navigate.

He said that having an app developed can become costly because the app has to be created to fit with the various mobile operating systems. With a mobile website, the page fits and can be viewed from any mobile device. Plus, with so many applications on the market, it's hard to sift through the ones that are actually helpful.

BiBiSi, which stands for Build it Buy it Sell it, has developed a mobile website for the Downtown Alliance and is working on others for the Fiesta Commission and the San Antonio River Walk.

Still, applications can be useful in a work setting. San Antonio-based AirStrip Technologies Inc. has created a suite of apps for physicians, allowing them to monitor a patient's vital signs from their phones. Late last year, Phyllis Browning Co., a local real estate company, launched an application that gives buyers and agents access to listings.